Anyone tried changing their dial bulbs?

[philiano]

Hi
I'm thinking of swapping the green bulbs behind the dials (speedo, etc) for brighter LEDs. I've bought the LEDs from Ebay, and have a spare instrument panel, just in case.
Has anyone tried this? I'm hoping it'll brighten up the dials a lil.

[ianaudia4]

The dash bulbs are not green, it is the plastic casing that they fit in that is!

[Nate]

i did a golf for a friend a few years back. found i got better results using green LEDs, as almost all of their light output will go thru the green filter in the dash. i've also done colour changes on a couple. all you need to do is pull the green filter out and either use coloured LEDs to light it, or replace the green with some coloured filter gel (stage lighting stuff). although if you are wanting blue purple kinda colours, you will need to replace the blbs with coloured LEDs as a filament bulb produces bugger all at this end of the spectrum

[bluestreak56]

Previous owner did mine with the blue neon effect you can buy on ebay, dash clocks are wired on these glow wiring rather than bulbs, switches all match too.

If he could do it, im sure it will be easy for you Nate

[PeteGLi]

I've put blue LED's in mine without changing the filter, and I did some for Jim (dfunk) but my MFA/Digital clock unit does not come out that bright.

The bulb holders that the LED's come in though are not designed for VW's and do not fit properly. I had to transpose the LED bulbs into VW bulb holders - a few minutes with a soldering iron.

[Nate]

The bulb holders that the LED's come in though are not designed for VW's and do not fit properly.

as with anything, there are several different stardards. led mounted in a holder that will plug straight in are available

[PeteGLi]

The bulb holders that the LED's come in though are not designed for VW's and do not fit properly.

as with anything, there are several different stardards. led mounted in a holder that will plug straight in are available

I was unable to find any when I was looking.

[Nate]

they do turn up on both ebay and ebid, but aren't the most common. vaux and citroen fitment are there all the time.

the ones i got came from mr motor / motorworld or whatever they're calling themselves this week.

[DT1]

I swapped mine for blue LEDs, just used the VW bulb holder and swapped with the bare LED. You don't even need to solder as it's a tight fit when the wires press up against the metal contacts.

Just remember that they are polarity sensitive.

This might interest you:

http://www.vintagewatercooleds.com/tech ... lights.htm

[Nate]

good link